


hearts don't break

by agentcalliope



Series: It's okay (not to be okay) [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Love, Melinda May will always be there for Jemma, Post 4x22, To Listen, to ask, to talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 01:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11093619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentcalliope/pseuds/agentcalliope
Summary: Hearts don't break-- at least, not literally anyway.(May helps Jemma pick up some of the pieces)





	hearts don't break

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jemmasimmmons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jemmasimmmons/gifts).



> For Isabelle, who asked a fic title on tumblr and i actually wrote something I kind of like. 
> 
> *Jemma Simmons voice* She's amazing

* * *

They have breakfast and lunch together, but they’re assigned different dinner schedules.

 

Coulson, Yoyo and Fitz have dinner in Mess Hall A, and Mack and Daisy have dinner in Mess Hall E.

Jemma and May have dinner in Mess Hall C.

The first day, there’s nowhere to sit, and they stand around looking for a place to eat until Jemma spots a little table in a corner of the mess hall that’s empty. It creaks when they put down their food, and one leg is shorter than the others so it tilts until May groans, takes her paper cup, flattens it, and shoves it underneath.

It becomes a bit more steady after that.

It becomes theirs.

This time becomes theirs, too. They eat their bland meals, drink their water, and talk about everything and nothing at the same time. 

 

At breakfast one day, Jemma and Fitz don’t talk to each other. They don’t even look at each other, and even though they’re sitting side by side there’s a space between them that May wonders was always there.

She thinks that everyone notices, but no one wants to ask.

May frowns, and eats her breakfast in silence.

-

Like the universe, it starts with a bang.

May doesn’t flinch when Jemma harshly sets down her tray and sits with sigh.

May doesn’t speak when Jemma rips open the plastic bag to get her fork, and stabs it into the soggy salad.

May just sits there, watching Jemma pause, staring at the food.

 

“Fitz and I fought last night.” Jemma finally whispers.

“Hmm.”

Jemma looks up at May, blinking, dropping the fork and wrapping her hands around herself.  “I don’t know what to do.”

Her voice cracks when she speaks, and May wants to drag her chair across the floor, bring it right beside Jemmas, and hold her close, hold her tight.

Instead, May nods slightly, and she pushes her tray aside and lace her fingers together.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

-

The bell rings, and neither of them have eaten.

They throw their trays into the bin and they walk out with the crowd. Right before they split to go their separate ways, May grabs Jemma’s arm and pulls her to the side.

“You know hearts don’t break.”

Jemma scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Of course I know that.”

“But they feel like they do.” May says, meeting Jemma’s eyes. “Hearts don’t break but my god, do the cuts _burn_. And you try to pick up the pieces off the floor only find that there’s too many of them.“

Jemma shifts her feet, but May stands steady.

“You just need time, and each other. You haven’t let oceans and galaxies break each other, and you won’t let anything else. He needs you to understand him, which I know you do– but you never really will. You need him to understand _you_ , which I know he does– but he never really will. And you both need to be okay with that.”

May shrugs. “Hearts don’t break but to mend them back together takes time, and love. They’ll heal and they’ll scar but I promise they’ll be stronger than before.”

May pulls Jemma into her arms and whispers into her ear. “It’s not hard to pick up all the pieces when you have someone to help.”

Jemma nods, lets go of May and sniffles. 

“Go.”

May watches as Jemma disappears into her and Fitz’s room, and then turns to go to her own.

-

The next morning Fitz and Jemma are laughing. They’re laughing and talking to each other about something to do with their sector. 

 

May notices that there’s no space left between them.

 

(she smiles)

**Author's Note:**

> unbetaed so all mistakes are my own :)


End file.
